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Thursday, October 24, 2013

Grantham needs to use more players

So, we've talked about the coaches and special teams. Now ask yourself this - Is the roster really limiting Grantham as he would have us believe? Or is he limiting the roster despite poor results?

Rotate the talent dude. The defense is coming off their best game of the season. That's great. What's not so great is that this isn't saying a whole lot. But there's signs there that could grow into something much better. Possibly. Probably. Maybe definitely. And acknowledging that the defensive line is leading the charge would be a good first step for Grantham in helping his squad rise to the occasion of what's left of this season.

There's a lot of rotation along the front line. Garrison Smith, Sterling Bailey, and Ray Drew are leading the way. But their counterparts in Mike Thornton, Josh Dawson, Toby Johnson, Chris Mayes, and John Taylor are seeing the field as well. It's time to utilize that philosophy with the linebackers and the secondary, specifically the inside linebackers and cornerbacks. For instance, Swann played some good football once Harvey-Clemons went down Saturday. Now, perhaps Grantham's hand was forced. But Swann shifted into the "star" position and Sheldon Dawson made an appearance finally. The results were good bordering on great.

Rotate some more players into the game. I'm not sure who's bowl of Cheerios Dawson pissed in to get left off the field so much this season, but on Saturday he was covering guys and making solid tackles...just doing the things we've been wanting to see. And you can tell Swann's confidence is rising, just based on the couple of quarters he had at the "star".

“I’m getting my feet back,” said Swann, who had two pass breakups and 10 tackles against Vanderbilt. “I played back in the nickel spot where I haven’t been all year and I think it’s going to be great from here on.”

Not sure what Grantham will do when Harvey-Clemons and Tray Matthews both return from the injury list. Actually, my best educated guess would be that he'd go right back to a lineup that wasn't working well in most all phases of the game.

But the fact is that one of the reasons Georgia is third in the conference in sacks is because Coach Wilson (and to be fair, Grantham as well, either directly or by proxy) is rotating guys into the game. There's a sense of active competition at real game speed. Legs are fresh and ready for the full 60 minutes. The defensive line is not only occupying space but they're getting separation and making plays on their own.

I have no doubt that everyone of those players at Grantham's disposal wants to do their job and win the game. We need better results. We have to have better results. So it's time to acknowledge that we need more players in the game.

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